


8-Beat Kiss

by CongressIsAliens



Series: The Rando Bando September Saga [2]
Category: Marching Band/Colorguard/Drumline
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Front Ensemble, Kissing, Marching Band, choreography, rehearsal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-09
Updated: 2018-09-09
Packaged: 2019-07-08 11:34:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,291
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15929600
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CongressIsAliens/pseuds/CongressIsAliens
Summary: A new show move proves exhilarating on Finals night.





	8-Beat Kiss

**T-5 Days to Finals**

It’s a dreary, drizzly day, one that just seems to drag on and on. One that dampens the mood of the performance-even with an exciting concept like falling in love. Which is why our visual instructor and designer pulled Kaitlyn and I aside during a water break to give us a new piece of choreography. 

One where we, working together, would join the marchers on the field in the halt, do some specific choreography over the 1 bar of rest plus 2 more bars, then walk back together, and come back in. And the choreography?

An 8 beat kiss. 

Kaitlyn and I were the perfect choice. We had been dating a little over a year, we were in the same section, we were right on the 50, we didn’t have any shakos to get in the way, and  we didn't play at that part. It would propel the closer into peak perfection. There was only one problem.

It was a week until Finals. 3 practices.

 

  **T-3 Days to Finals**

”Set at letter F, run through H, winds in, choreography go! Is that clear?”

”Yeah!”

”Ok, whenever you’re ready, Natalie.”

”5, 6, 5 6 7 8!”

...

...

...

”Cut! Clarinets, stop sinking on that slide! Mellos, more accent at 57! Flutes, can’t hear you after the rest measure! And Levi, Kaitlyn, it looks ok, but it needs to look great. Make me believe the choreo! Next run, leave a little more space between yourselves. From section F, same chunk same settings! Let’s go!”

”5, 6, 5 6 7 8!”

...

...

...

”Cut! Better clarinets, but it can be perfect. Mellos, stop slurring already! High brass, be quieter so I can hear all the voices! And you two, Kaitlyn, Levi, it looks like a friendzone out there. Stay close. Maybe a little more close than usual next rep. You got 3 minutes, get some water. Be set by then!”

”Hang on, Levi, just a minute.”

”Ok, did you want to practice something?”

”Kinda. I wanted to know if maybe we could change the rest choreo up a little.”

”What, like me hold you different?”

”Other way around. I was thinking like...this.”

”YES! That is what I am looking for from you two! Do that. Problem solved.”

”Sheesh, he made me jump.”

“Yeah, but I guess if it looks good...”

”Let’s get some water.”

”And dry off the keys.”

”And that.”

 

**T-1 Day to Finals**

~~~~It’s time to leave for finals. It may be a day until them, but it’s 2 hours away and no one wants to arrive at the high school at 4 AM. So we stay in a motel near the stadium.  Obviously, Kaitlyn and I can’t  room together, so we just decide to sit together on the bus after our really long final rehearsal, on the way to Finals. Almost as soon as we’re underway, (which takes for flipping ever because the bass drums _will not shut up_ ), she puts her backpack on the ground and curls up next to me, asleep almost instantly. I put my arm around her shoulders, and just watch her sleep. She’s very cute while she’s asleep. 

I end up falling asleep too, my head resting on top of hers. 

Later, as I’m lying in bed in the room I share with 3 other guys (our baritones and Liam) for the night, staring at the ceiling regretting my nap, I have the perfect idea. 

A dip kiss. I lean forwards, she leans back, a universally acknowledged romantically charged moment. I just need to run it by Kaitlyn. And, y’know, sleep.

 

**Finals Day, Final Round**

  _Levi and Kaitlyn stand behind their marimbas, mallets in hand, watching while Natalie, their  drum major, counts off after her salute and begins the opener. The trumpet trio aces their solo, with the rest of the winds entering the piece as Kaitlyn and Levi grin at each other, then quickly look down at their keys, nailing their opening hit. The opener flies by, with them stealing glances and smiles in quick rests so the audience can see the love story bursting between their eyes when they tear their eyes away from the mezmerizing colorguard._

_And while the last hit of the opener is fading into oblivion, and the voiceover begins, they make eye contact, smiling shyly before looking away, blushing. The lack of shakos and the proximity to the audience, coupled with the fact they are the only two moving and they are doing so in an open, obvious way, projects the mutual crush on each other that, a little over a year ago, neither of them thought would ever become a reality._

_The voiceover ends and the ballad begins, slow-seeming, picking up speed yet staying at the same tempo, with little waves to each other on rests and, during the alto sax solo, while the rest of the band holds up their hands in the shape of hearts and the guard slowly spins purple flags, Kaitlyn sneaks up to Levi, who is watching the drum major, readying for the entrance, and kisses him on the cheek._

_They both blush and look away, and the whole band can almost feel the sigh that silently slips from the audience. And then the tempo changes, and the ballad is propelled into its fast segment again, the winds propelling their sound to the box. And in the winds-only ritardando, both of them end up looking over their shoulders at each other, while Natalie adjusts the tempo._

_“If you want to go out with them, ask them! Be brave! You’ll never know, you might find a soulmate.”_

_As the words echo around the stadium, the closer jumps into full swing, with a jazzy grooving beat._

_During the drum break, Levi pulls a folded piece of cardstock out of his mallet bag, a fake prop with quarters taped inside so it didn’t blow away, and fake writes in it, before leaving it on the high end of Kaitlyn’s marimba. She picked it up, “reads" it, giggled, then fake scribbled a reply, leaving it on his marimba. He_ _picks it up, reads it, smiles,  and then puts it in the mallet bag, grabbing his mallets for the music right after the drum break. And then, a few measures, and they’re meeting in the middle of the two marimbas, they grasp hands, they walk in step up to the point of the heart halt. They stop, with the measure of rest,  Levi puts one hand on Kaitlyn’s left hip, where it’s visible to the audience,_

  _and they’re kissing. Kaitlyn bent backwards, Levi forwards, in a romantic gesture that even the hardest of villans recognizes, and for 8 beats there’s nothing in the universe but each other. And unlike the hundreds of other times they’ve practiced the kiss, this time it feels real, looks real, tastes real._

 _And then they’re upright, moment over, and they walk back to their keyboards, Levi’s arm over Kaitlyn’s_ _shoulders. And on the way back, he whispers in her ear with full meaning and truth behind his unscripted words,_

_“I love you, Kaitlyn.”_

_Somehow, Kaitlyn manages to keep cool enough to manage to play the rest of the show once they arrive back at their instruments, blushing from the kiss and the words Levi slipped in her ear._

_And on the final note of the show, a lateral roll for them, Levi and Kaitlyn stop early and embrace one more time, drawing a standing ovation from the crowd. As the marching members form their lines and file out to the beat of a single snare, the pit scurries to unplug equipment and load up to get out of the stadium, and Kaitlyn’s primary thought is, I love you too, Levi._

_It’s completely true._


End file.
